Welp, today didn’t start out so well…

Reporting live from the side of the road…

@rusnivek

UCP from @rusnivek – how do copy?

Yeowza, all the UASI toys in #EmergencyManagement!

@rusnivek

Good to exercise and play #troll today with Furry EMA 🤣

#NotReal

@rusnivek

Seriously…a blizzard in mid-April.

That’s not cool Mother Nature.

@rusnivek

Wait a second….are you THE famous Garden Grove Fire Department Public Information Officer (PIO)?!?!

Glad to meet the California celebrity PIO Thanh Nguyen. We’ve been friends on social media for a while now but this would be the first time IRL (In Real Life) that we got a chance to meet. Great to make that connection.

Follow his journey on Twitter: @PIOThanhn

@rusnivek

And now for something a bit more techy.

No suit so I’m OK.

Thanks for the time Berkz!

@rusnivek

Day-2 of ICS400 with lots of group work for Central City

Not only Central City is going down, but Liberty County’s EOC are strained for resources in the response phase.

But for realz – these in-class scenarios allow us to play the roles we would be filling in an actual disaster. So really, we are training our partners for disaster response/recovery! Yep, train like you fight. Bonus points for being in the county EOC too!

Now for those that know of the fictions Central City, which is in the fictitious State of Columbia, all know that it’s a real bad place to live as there are constant disasters there. But in Emergency Management, we use this grandiose scenario to train our all-hazard partners in public safety to respond to and coordinate with others.

You’d be surprised, not only do we have the typical big three functions playing (Fire, EMS, and Police) – but we also have transportation, communications, public works, logistics, long term recovery, public utilities, health department, etc….the list goes on and on and on….

We hold true to our inclusive training because in a real disaster, all partners will be in play during a disaster. That’s right, you’ll have to work with everyone. It takes a community to survive a disaster.

For those that are bleh about ICS training and “it was boring” naysayers types – I leave you with this one participant commentary.

If an instructor is passionate about the topic and truly believes in the mission, the goal, the SMART objective – it’ll show in the delivery.

@rusnivek

Day-1 of the ICS-400 course!

Lots to share with everyone here.

And yes, we have a very diverse class.

Without a doubt, we will be happy to share past disaster experiences to help improve our participants. Believe you me when I say, a rising tide raises all ships.

Looking forward to a solid day of dialog and some great exchange of ideas to better serve so many communities across the state.

Bringing my A-game!

@rusnivek

Dear News media – here’s a direct link to @DHSgov

https://www.dhs.gov/news-releases/press-releases

Here is the DHS’ Twitter handle: @DHSgov

You can also call DHS HQ: 202-282-8000

Hope this helps.

@rusnivek

Rise and shine peeps!

Gotta get to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC)!

And don’t blink your eyes, you aren’t seeing things. Yes, I’m wearing a tie on a Sunday.

No, I’m not in Washington DC or in Japan…but it’s still primetime Cherry Blossom outside…

…but we got stuff to do in the EOC 🌸!

Also, special thanks to the solid PSAP comms pros that shared their knowledge w/ our teams.

She’s telling him “Don’t press the red button…unless it’s real bad!”

SundayFunday! Reporting live from the EOC…

@rusnivek